Exchanged Glances
by MariCareBear
Summary: Amy and Laynie go through the fateful day of July 4th 2002, the day that will forever change their lives, the day of Colin's accident.


July 4th 2002  
  
"Amy where's your brother?" My father asks me just as we are about to set up for dinner.  
  
I shrug, "I haven't seen them since the speech."  
  
"Well go find him please." My mother requests just as Mrs. Hart approaches the family with Laynie just behind.  
  
"Hey Laynie." I greet my friend, and boyfriend's sister cheerfully.  
  
Before Laynie can return the greeting Mrs. Hart asks, "I was asking around because we haven't seen Colin for awhile and one of the McNally boys said that Colin and Bright took off a couple hours ago with James' truck, and sure enough when Jim went to check the truck was gone."  
  
I roll my eyes as I watch my parent's expressions dark, Bright and Colin are so busted when they get back. I love them both, don't get me wrong, but they the stupidest things sometimes, and they always get caught and in trouble for it.  
  
"Jim wants to know if you and he could take your car and go looking for them," Mrs. Hart directs her question at my father who looks ready to blow a fuse.  
  
"That's fine Sharon, if you'll just tell him to meet me at the car we can go now." My father pulls his keys out of his pocket, kisses my mother and stalks away.   
  
Laynie and I exchange glances, there's no doubt about it, our brother's are in trouble.  
  
Mrs. Hart waits with us while my father and Colin's father go out to find them. The time seems to drag out forever, and the long we wait the more angry my mother and Mrs. Hart get.  
  
Laynie and I exchange glances, we both know longer it takes our parents to find Colin and Bright the more trouble they are going to be in when they get back.  
  
Twilight is setting when we hear it, it's been nearly 45 minutes since our fathers left to find our brothers, and that's when we hear the sirens cut through the sound of festivities like a knife being stabbed in the back. The hush that falls over the gathered crowd seems to be asking how someone could be so cruel to interrupt their festivities with an accident. My mother's hand along with Mrs. Hart's fly to cover their mouth as if they know something I don't know.  
  
Laynie and I exchange glances, our brother's are in trouble but more so than we thought, the fact that the could be hurt had never occurred to us.   
  
Our mother's spend the next 15 minutes convincing each other that it has nothing to do with their husbands or their sons. But that doesn't matter and they fall silent as Mr. Hart comes hurrying to us, he looks pale and he is sweating as if he has the flu. Quickly he exclaims that the boys were in an accident and that we have to rush to the hospital.  
  
Laynie and I exchange glances, our brothers are in trouble, trouble that requires an ambulance ride to the hospital 30 minutes outside of Everwood.  
  
We all pile into my families' car, my mother is driving. Mr. Hart doesn't look like he's capable of driving and I don't know what he had seen to render such a man so deflated. Mrs. Hart sits between us, griping both Laynie and my hand so tightly I'm almost positive she's going to crush my fingers.  
  
Laynie and I exchange glances, our brothers are in trouble but we don't know how much trouble they are in anymore.  
  
We arrive in the emergency room to find my dad pacing back and forth. They won't tell us anything, only that they are both in emergency procedures to save their lives. My father is angry, he keeps repeating that he is a doctor over and over again. As if these are magic words that are going to help our brother's.  
  
Laynie and I exchange glances, our brothers are in trouble, so much trouble that it has caused the strongest adults we know to crumble before us.  
  
It's hours before the doctors come out to talk to us. A youngish looking doctor first explains how my brother is stabilized and that he's got several broken bones and internal bleeding and that he is in critical condition  
  
Laynie and I exchange glances, my brother is in trouble and I can read the pity in her eyes.  
  
But then another doctor, an older male, begins talking about Colin. Trying to explain to us the seriousness of the brain damage that Colin has suffered. And then he drops it, our entire world exploding around us with just two words, Colin and Coma. And that he may never wake up from it.  
  
Laynie and I don't exchange glances, our brother's are in trouble, but this time for the first time in our lives they aren't in it together. My brother is going to be able to walk away but Laynie's may never and this puts a wall between us, no longer can we exchange glance and know exactly what the other is thinking. Forever there will be this between us. 


End file.
